Investigation for Improved Camouflage Colours and Patterns for

the SANDF Camouflage UniformJohannes baumbach

CSIR Defence, Peace, Safety and Security, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa, e-mail: jbaumbac@csir.co.za

Problem StatementThe colours and pattern of the current SANDF camouflage uniform was designed in the early 1990’s. Since then new technology for design and print of colours and patterns on fabric was developed, which could be used to enhance the current camouflage capabilities. A better understanding of the human eye and the psychophysical aspects of human vision was also developed, and any new design should incorporate these aspects.

Current SituationThe current SANDF camouflage uniform was not specifically developed with short distances in mind. Although it is a very good pattern, it lacks short-distance capabilities (50m and less). Another shortcoming identified was that it lacks contrast towards the dark colours. The current colours are well-selected. It matches the general environment very well, as seen in the photograph on the right.

In the past two years alternative colours that would also work very well have been identified [1]. These colours, as well as the psychophysical aspects of human vision, will be incorporated in a totally new concept design.

Human VisionHuman vision is very complex, and is still not very well understood. The points below will discuss a few of the aspects to keep in mind for camouflaging.

Form/Shape PerceptionFor camouflaging the first aspect to remember is that the human mind first identifies shape (like the shape of a human), before it starts to decompose the colours and patterns [2]. The silhouette of the three men in the image to the right will be easily identified. It is therefore essential to ensure that the doctrine and colours/patterns hide the shape.

Depth PerceptionOne of the reasons for easy identification of camouflaged objects is the lack of depth perception. It is very difficult to create a perception of depth on a flat surface. Texture gradients are one of the methods used to add depth to flat surfaces [2], as shown in the image below.

Brightness PerceptionA change in the luminance profile can elicit different sensations in the psychological aspects of human vision. The brain is looking for cues in a scene, and then adapts the

perception according to those cues [3]. The object in the centre of the figure on the left has the same tone of grey on both sides of the “bend”, as shown in the diagram next to the coloured figure. However, due to the brightness changes at the “bend”, the brain perceives it as different colours on the top- and bottom side.

Colour PerceptionDue to the context in which colours are presented to the observer, the same colour will look different [4]. In the image on the left the blue tiles on top of the left cube is exactly the same colour as the yellow tiles of the right-hand cube. However, due to the context of display it is perceived as different colours. This effect can only be achieved with colours of low chromaticness. Colours with high chromaticness will not have this perceptual effect.

Conceptual Camouflage PatternsThree conceptual camouflage patterns will be developed, and printed on fabric. A complete camouflage uniform will be manufactured from the fabric, and evaluated in the field. The first pattern will be based on the current camouflage pattern, but it will have high spatial frequency elements around the edges in order to have short-distance properties. The second concept pattern will also be based on the current camouflage pattern, but the high frequency elements will consist of square blocks. The third concept uniform will incorporate abovementioned psychophysical elements, and will make use of the concept colours defined during previous research. Elements of the three concept patterns are shown below.

Camouflage colours matches the environment very well

Human shape very obvious

Depth perception using gradients

Cornsweet effect

References[1] J Baumbach, “Evaluation of predicted colours as printed on fabric”, DPSS Project Report, 1080-CUP-

00002, Rev1, November 2005[2] Martin Paré, “The visual system”, Lecture at Queens University, Canada, as at

http://brain.phyg.queensu.ca/pare, downloaded July 2007[3] Dale Purves, An empirical explanation of the Cornsweet effect, Journal of Neuroscioence, Vol 19, No 19,

P 8542-8551, Oct 1999[4] Dale Purves, An empirical explanation of color contrast, PNAS, Vol97, P12834-12839, 2000

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concept 3

Colour perception

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